remembering carlo cercignani · dipartimento di sistemi e informatica università di firenze...

Dipartimento di Sistemi e Informatica Università di Firenze

Remembering Carlo Cercignani n. 1 di 17

22th International Conference on Transport Theory Portland, September 12-16, 2011

22nd International Conference on Transport Theory Portland, September 12-16, 2011

Giovanni Frosali Università di Firenze (Italy)

[email protected]

REMEMBERING CARLO CERCIGNANI




Carlo Cercignani was born on June 17, 1939, Teulada (Sardinia Italy) and passed away in Milan, on January 7°, 2010.




Carlo Cercignani has been one of the most active researchers of the Boltzmann equation and related topics. The second half of the last century were very auspicious for kinetic theory and Carlo Cercignani was always among its most important contributors. In 1975 he published his most famous treatise “The Boltzmann equation and its applications,” which collects and unifies numerous results on the Boltzmann equation previously scattered in hundreds of references.




In the “Introduction for Carlo’s Special Issue”, of J. Stat. Phys. 124 (2006) Cedric Villani wrote:

“This book is just one example of Carlo’s amazing productivity, with nearly three hundreds research papers published and ten books or so. Almost all of these show Carlo’s passion for the Boltzmann equation, and more generally everything related to Boltzmann.”

ICTT-17 – London, 2001




Cercignani spent his first years in Tuscany , in Pisa. Then he moved to Milan, where he obtained the degrees in Physics (1961) and in Mathematics (1963).

Carlo with G.M.Kremer, at Pasadena , RGD Conference 1988.




During the 60’s, he was research and teaching assistant in Milan and visited several foreign Institutions (MIT, Berkeley, Courant Institute).




Eventually, Carlo chose to settle in Italy, became an Associate Professor in Aerodynamics at the Politecnico di Milano in 1968, and Full Professor in Mathematical Physics in 1975. There he spent the rest of his life, which was impressively active, intense, and productive despite the fact that he had to deal with the effects of multiple sclerosis for more than 30 years.




The scientific work of Carlo Cercignani was very fruitful. As a mathematician, Cercignani obtained important results in the theory of Partial Differential Equations, Semigroup Theory, Monte-Carlo Methods, Spectral Theory, Riemann-Hilbert Problems, Fourier Analysis, and Functional Analysis. His main research interest was Kinetic Theory. Cercignani devoted a particular attention to the H-theorem, and to the problem of how macroscopic, irreversible evolution equations can follow from micro-scopic, reversible motion equations. In 1972, he obtained an elegant generalization of the Darrozes-Guiraud formula, and proved an H-theorem for polyatomic gases. During the 80’s, he studied the evaporation-condensation interface between a gas and a liquid, stating an important conjecture for the long-time behavior of the Boltzmann equation solutions.




Cercignani improved the continuum turbulence models for the Large Eddy Simulations (LES) of the Navier-Stokes equation. During the 90’s, in collaboration with Stefan Stefanov (Bulgarian Academy of Sciences, Sofia), he studied the onset of instabilities in rarefied gases. By using Monte-Carlo simulations, they studied the long-time behavior of the solutions, and identified the formation of coherent structures and attractors. The last decade of his professional life was mainly devoted to the study of the MEMS.

His last paper, number 318 in his publication list, is: A.V. Bobylev, C. Cercignani, and I.M. Gamba “On the Self-Similar Asymptotics for generalized Nonlinear Kinetic Maxwell Models”, Comm. Math. Phys., 291 (2009), 599-644.




Here we list only his books: C. Cercignani, Mathematical methods in kinetic theory. Plenum Press, New York 1969 ix+227 pp. Čerčin'jani, K. Matematicheskie metody v kineticheskoĭ teorii gazov. (Russian) [Mathematical methods in the kinetic theory of gases] Translated from the English by V.S.Galkin, V.A.Perepuhov and O.G.Fridlender. ``Mir'', Moscow, 1973. 245 pp. C.Cercignani, Mathematical Methods in Kinetic Theory, Plenum Press, 1990. ISBN 0-306-43450-1 C.Cercignani, Theory and application of the Boltzmann equation. Elsevier, New York, 1975. xii+415 pp. Čerčin’jani, K.,Teoriya i prilozheniya uravneniya Bol’tsmana. Translated from the English by È. A. Gurmuzova, et ``Mir'', Moscow, 1978. 495 pp. C.Cercignani, The Boltzmann equation and its applications. Springer-Verlag, New York, 1988. xii+455 pp. C.Cercignani, Mathematical methods in kinetic theory. Second edition. Plenum Press, New York, 1990. xii+252 pp.




C.Cercignani, R.Illner, M.Pulvirenti, The mathematical theory of dilute gases. Springer-Verlag, New York, 1994. viii+347 pp. C.Cercignani, V.Gerasimenko, D.Petrina, Many-particle dynamics and kinetic equations. Translated from the Russian manuscript by K. Petrina andV.Gredzhuk. Kluwer Academic Publishers Group, Dordrecht, 1997. viii+244 pp. C.Cercignani, Boltzmann e la meccanica statistica, Pavia, 1997. x+274 pp. C.Cercignani, D.H.Sattinger, Scaling limits and models in physical processes. DMV Seminar, 28. Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel, 1998. vi+191 pp. C.Cercignani, Ludwig Boltzmann. The man who trusted atoms. With a foreword by Roger Penrose. OxfordUniversity Press, Oxford, 1998. xviii+329 pp. C.Cercignani, Rarefied gas dynamics. From basic concepts to actual calculations. Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, 2000. xviii+320 pp. C.Cercignani, G.M.Kremer, The relativistic Boltzmann equation: theory and applications. Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel, 2002. x+384 pp. C.Cercignani, Slow rarefied flows. Theory and application to micro-electro-mechanical systems. Birkhäuser Verlag, Basel, 2006. xii+166 pp.




11th ICTT – Blacksburg, 1989

In the transport theory community, Carlo Cercignani has been one of the most active participants.




Carlo Cercignani




11th ICTT – Blacksburg, 1989 Carlo Cercignani and Vinicio Boffi

Mountain Lake Resort, May 1989




Carlo Cercignani




ICTT15 – Goteborg (Sweden), 1997

Carlo Cercignani




We are happy to remember him as in the photo on this page - the smiling, uncontested leader of the Italian contingent of transport theorists.

The presence of Carlo Cercignani in ICTT was always vital and incisive. The void he leaves behind is deep, since he represented a praise-worthy example of enthusiasm, tenacity, versatility and productivity. His courage and his devotion to scientific research will always remain alive in us, and will be an incentive for everyone.




Thanks for your attention !

remembering carlo cercignani · dipartimento di sistemi e informatica università di firenze...

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